When was a story published?
When is it set?
When am I reading it?
In Robert Heinlein's Future History, written mostly before 1950, Volumes I and II cover the period, 1951-2000. Volume III is Revolt In 2100.
In James Blish's Cities In Flight, Volume I, They Shall Have Stars (1956), was alternately entitled Year 2018!
The opening installment of Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization, "The Saturn Game,":
was published in 1981;
begins with a fictional quotation dated 2057;
is set circa 2055, according to Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Technic Civilization;
is currently being reread and assessed in 2018.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And, as you said, we are in the year 2018! Maybe I should give Blish's third Okie book another chance, despite getting bogged down in it.
I can see why Poul Anderson thought it best to avoid using DATES in most of his works: to avoid getting tangled up in contradictions and to prevent his stories becoming "dated" too son.
JRR Tolkien, by contrast, took the other line. As all readers should know, he had a passion for dates and chronologies. And he managed to make that work--which I'm sure helped to make his Middle Mythos so successful.
Sean
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